1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to industrial ovens used to cure various products during a manufacturing process. More specifically, the present invention includes a dehumidifying oven having a series of rotating trays for carrying items to be cured. The oven includes controllers for setting temperature, speed of rotation, and humidity levels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of curing ovens exist on the market today. U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,180 discloses a curing oven for adhesive which is curable by ultraviolet radiation. The curing oven includes a housing having a curing chamber for containing an item to be cured, an access opening to the chamber, a closure member for the access opening, an ultraviolet lamp which is located above the curing chamber, a primary enclosure for the lamp which includes a top opening above the lamp and a bottom opening which is below the lamp. The bottom opening forms an opening to the curing chamber to enable ultraviolet radiation to pass from the lamp to the curing chamber and to enable a convective airflow to develop from the bottom opening to the top opening across the lamp. Means are provided for creating an airflow above the top opening for removing heated air which passes through the top opening from the convective airflow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,339 is directed to a high efficiency, non polluting curing oven having an internal curing chamber comprising forward and rearward regions, bottom located forward and rearward access openings to and from the forward and rearward regions a plurality of trays for carrying material to be cured through the curing chamber, a conveyor for conveying the trays to and from the forward and rearward regions through the forward and rearward access openings, a tray moving system for lifting the trays upwardly through the forward region and for transferring the trays to and for lowering the trays downwardly through the rearward region, a burner providing heated gases in a combustion chamber above the curing chamber and a fan for blowing the heated gases downwardly into the curing chamber for curing of the material with the heated gases rising back upwardly, creating a negative pressure to draw a supply of fresh outside air into the curing chamber, through the bottom located access.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,930 describes a vertical multiple stage oven including a first plurality of ovens in a vertical arrangement, and a second plurality of ovens in a vertical arrangement positioned adjacent the first plurality of ovens. An access port is provided to the first plurality of ovens and an exit port is provided from the second plurality of ovens. A coupling port couples the first plurality of ovens to the second plurality of ovens. A continuous pathway is defined through the first plurality of ovens and through the second plurality of ovens from the access port, through the coupling port to the exit port. Each oven is sealed from adjacent ovens by trays moving along the pathway.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,842 is directed to an oven including single or multiple decks of longitudinal burners extending from an infeed end to an outfeed end of a body. The burners are slanted relative to a direction of a movable carrier such that a product traveling on the carrier will be heated continuously from one side to the other by a burner whose orientation is diagonal to the product's path of travel. The proportion of air and gas may be separately controlled for each deck. Furthermore, each burner may be individually controlled and monitored to maintain a desired temperature within the body. Latitudinal pilot runners extend across the width of the oven to ignite and maintain the longitudinal burners. Infrared burners above the top deck initially heat a product to either seal in or eliminate moisture. The invention further comprises a method for heating a product.
One problem associated with these existing curing ovens is that the curing chamber is generally exposed to outside, ambient air when items are placed into the oven or removed therefrom, which causes fluctuations in temperature and humidity levels. These temperature and humidity fluctuations may cause items to be cured at inconsistent levels, causing flaws and deficiencies in the cured products. Further, in order to compensate for the escape of heat through the openings to the curing chamber, the heating elements are forced to utilize more energy in order to maintain a constant temperature within the curing chamber, thus causing increased energy costs through inefficient energy usage. Additionally, there are safety issues associated with many of these ovens. For instance, many existing curing ovens do not have safety features in place to reduce or eliminate pinch points, burns, or other types of injuries. Thus, there is a need to provide a curing oven that overcomes many of the disadvantages associated with existing curing ovens.